Big Libya oil terminals in rebel hands - residents

[Guest guest]

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE71N1XM20110224

Big Libya oil terminals in rebel hands - residents

Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:10pm GMT

BENGHAZI, Libya Feb 24 (Reuters) - Key Libyan oil and product terminals to the

east of the capital are in the hands of rebels who have seized control from

leader Muammar Gaddafi, said residents of Benghazi who are in touch with people

in region.

The residents told Reuters on Thursday the oil and product terminals at Ras

Lanuf and Marsa El Brega were being protected.

Soliman Karim, a resident involved with helping administer the eastern city of

Benghazi, said exports, a vital source of income for OPEC-member Libya, were

continuing. A second resident suggested flows might have been affected.

The information could not immediately be confirmed from those operating the

terminals. (Reporting by Dziadosz in Benghazi and Sherine El Madany in

Cairo; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Keiron )

[Guest guest]

Which would explain why oil prices are rising to between $100 and $120 per barrel depending on type and exchange. This is a major jump in just a couple of days and only because of one country.

Now, I suspect that we are also seeing upward pressure because of speculation. The way the price is behaving seems like there is bidding up followed by profit taking, as if investors aren't sure how high it will go, so they let the price move just far enough to lock in some profits then sell. This causes the price to drop then spike again as investors buy again at the lower price.

Other sources are saying the gas prices in the US as the highest seen this time of year since the early 1980's. Prices will probably be quite high this summer. Now we'll have to watch and see what the government does. Most likely it will impose price controls and maybe even rationing. This will disrupt the supply system and cause localized scarcity and other issues just as happened under , though worse because we import more oil now than then. What it should do if reopen the coastal areas to drilling, something that should never have been stopped, and rush build more and more modern refining capacity. In fact if we had replaced our old refineries with modern ones in the last decade or so, we could have increased out gas supply just from the better technology.

In a message dated 2/24/2011 10:29:03 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Big Libya oil terminals in rebel hands - residents